Faces of Bexhill - the book.
Faces of Bexhill
A portrait of a seaside town £12.49
Now available online from the Great British Bookshop.
Extra)ordinary people from Bexhill-on Sea answered the call to 'channel their inner Hollywood' to help raise funds for charity.
With a style referencing classic lighting arrangements and poses from the Golden Age of Hollywood plus selected quotes from the sitters, (and some classic photographers), they are the Faces of Bexhill.
Proceeds from profits will go to support a Bexhill Dementia Action Alliance initiative, Singing Down Memory Lane (SDML)
The SDML group provide a place where people with memory problems, along with their carers can go to relax, sing, chat, socialise,and even dance if they like!
'Faces of Bexhill A portrait of a seaside town by D Charles Mason. 78 pages, hardback, casewrapped, 216mm by 216mm
What people are saying about the book
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'Be a Hollywood starlet for an afternoon. Release your inner Katherine Hepburn for a photographic project which gives you a couple of nice portraits, and you can make a donation to a pair of worthy charities. What’s not to like?
And so it was that Faces of Bexhill, David Mason’s latest project was launched and started on its way to raising more than £1,500 for The Alzheimers Society and Bexhill’s own Dementia Action Alliance.
And from that came the book Faces of Bexhill, a slick glossy table-topper with mood and mystique supplied by a cast of local characters. My personal photo shoot adventure suddenly became quite a revelation as I discovered I was one of many faces that make up our lovely little seaside community. What an amazing collection. What a gift! Thank you David.'
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'I really enjoyed this collection of photographs, it is more than a collection of photographs of people as it shows new aspects of them and they all create a story. The brief interviews per portrait bring the sitters to life as individuals"
The Great British Book Shop
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Anything else you can tell us?
Updated 18th June 24
Rather than keep updating the page above - I'll add to the list below in the format of an FAQ. They'll be some questions that have been asked, and some which I think some people may want to ask, but are too polite.
If you have a query or question that I've missed please feel free to email me at FacesBexhill@wenchangbooks.co.uk and I'll either get back to you directly, or update the list.
FAQ'S
I would be very surprised if it was stocked by major bricks and mortar book chains/stationers - the discount I am offering is lower than the accepted retail percentage.
However - it is now on sale in the Bexhill Museum shop, which is great news. The museum continue to be supportive of the project - they allowed a weekend exhibition last year (without charge) for which I am extremely grateful.
Even if you don't buy the book there - you should visit. Honest - it's really good.
No.
Amazon are listing it as unavailable. It's not, it's just not available from them.
You can buy it direct from the Great British Bookshop.
Having done a test order, using Royal Mail second class, I would allow up to two weeks from the date of order.
Yes I know that Amazon could deliver the next day (if they were selling it) but the books are not kept in stock, they are printed as ordered.
If your need is urgent the Bexhill Museum normally keep some copies in stock, although if you're planning on making a special journey I would suggest a quick phone call just to check they haven't sold out (their stock holding is small. As I'm in Bexhill they don't have to buy in bulk)
It's difficult to put an exact number on this as the nett profit depends on the current cost of production and where the book is sold.
The book is printed on demand so I don't have the economy of scale of having a stack in the loft to tide me over if paper prices were to suddenly go through the roof. If you buy the book direct from the Great British Bookshop, that will reduce the distribution cost, (compared to more mainstream internet vendors) and give me a bigger margin so I can contribute more to charity.
The intention is an average of £2.00 from the sale of each book will support Singing Down Memory Lane , organised by the Bexhill Dementia Action Alliance.
Not a lot. I've already set aside the budget for this project, it's fully funded. Effectively I'm sponsoring myself using funds from my business hat to enable the project with my charity hat.
From the sale of each book will be deducted printing costs, distribution fees and a contribution of between £0.50 and £0.70 pence to me from each book sale to cover sundry expenses directly related to the book - e.g. leaflet printing, small venue hire for promotion.
If the book sales exceed my wildest expectations and the contribution from sales covers those small expenses for the year - then any money over that will be added to the charity pot.
It's a niche book, so it is not false modesty if I say that if I can sell 100 copies of this book - that would be a result. That would provide a minimum donation of £200 to support Singing Down Memory Lane.
Anything above that will be a massive bonus - you never know.
Donations for book sales will be made directly by me to the Bexhill Dementia Action Alliance to support Singing Down Memory Lane.
I will also update the Donation Tracker page monthly.
There will be a lag between book sales and donations. The book sales are being handled by a third party and I am subject to their schedule for the transfer of money - so if you buy a shed load of books (wishful thinking), please don't expect to see a donation the next day turn up on the donation page.
I will also aggregate the profits from book sales into lump donations - Charities don't need the extra admin of trying to keep track of micro-donations, and if you really want to be certain, their contact details are on their webpage.